Air flow disseminating apparatus



Sept 13, 1966 E. E. BRANDES 3,272,199

AIR FLOW .DISSEMINATING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 28, 1964 INVENTOR ERNEST E. BRANDES United States Patent 3,272,109 AIR FLOW DISSEMHNATING APPARATUS Ernest E. Brandes, 4900 Camden Road, Madison, Wis. Filed Oct. 28, 1964, Ser. No. 407,121 6 Claims. ((11. 98-40) This invention relates to elongated cabinets for conducting air along a wall of a room and particularly to a damper construction for controlling the flow of air through such cabinets.

It has been proposed to introduce either heated or cooled air into a room through metal cabinets which are elongated, and in general of a size to give the appearance of a slightly oversized baseboard. The air is introduced into the cabinet at one or more points, or at either end of the cabinet, and leaves the cabinet through a longitudinal slot disposed along the top of the cabinet. Due to the length of such cabinet, the distribution of the flow of air at various points along the slot in said cabinet is difiicult to control without the use of a relatively large number of supply ducts arranged along the length of the cabinet. The use of numerous supply ducts renders the cost of installation of the cabinet-type air conductor relatively high, both for the additional ducting required and for the labor needed to install the ducting.

One of the objects of this invention is the provision of an elongated air-conducting cabinet which is provided with a minimum of openings thereinto from a source of conditioned air, which cabinet, nevertheless, provides a desired distribution of the conditioned air along its entire length.

As a more specific object this invention seeks to provide an air-conducting cabinet of elongated form having a minimum of inlet openings and having an elongated exit slot along a side thereof, with means for regulating the distribution of air leaving the slot along the length of said slot.

This invention also has within its purview the pro-vision of an adjustable damper arrangement for an elongated heat conducting cabinet having an elongated exit slot by which the quantity of air issuing from the cabinet through the slot can be varied so that a greater amount of the conditioned air may be supplied, for example, under a window in a room and less air can be supplied through said elongated slot along insulated or otherwise protected walls.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an elongated cabinet for conducting conditioned air from a single conduit into a room through a long slot in the cabinet wherein a series of simple and inexpensive independent damper means is provided for regulating the flow of air through the slot at various points along said slot.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent tfirom the following detailed description thereof when taken together with the accompanying drawing in which FIG. 1 is an elevational view in perspective, looking into a corner of a room wherein cabinets of the type hereinafter described are installed;

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view in section on an enlarged scale, of the cabinet of FIG. 1, the section being taken along line 22 of FIG. 3;

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FIG. 3 is a side elevational view on a still larger scale, and partly in section, of the flow control or damper unit for the cabinet of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a portion of the damper unit of FIG. 3.

Referring now to FIG. 1 for a description of the preferred form of this invention illustrated therein, there is shown resting on floor 17 and in the place normally ocoupied by a baseboard, an elongated air-conducting cabinet 10 of the type to which this invention is particularly well adapted to be applied. Said cabinet 10 is essentially a hollow sheet metal duct and may be made of multiples of a unit length selected an standard which units are appropriately telescoped one into the other or otherwise secured together either in 'a straight line or, with the aid of suitably formed corner cabinets 11, in angular relationship to one another. It is contemplated that conditioned air will be forced into a connected series of cabinets through a minimum number of inlet openings, and in the form selected to illustrate this invention, the conditioned air is shown entering the series of cabinets at one end 12., the opposite end 13 being suitably closed. The conditioned air leaves the cabinets 10 through connected elongated slots 14. In the form illustrated, slots 14 are disposed in the top walls of the cabinets so that air may leave the cabinets in a vertically directed curtain which passes along the adjacent walls .15 and 16 of the room.

An enlarged cross-section through the cabinet 10 is shown in FIG. 2. It may be seen in that figure that the cabinet is constructed of sheet metal to have a bottom wall 20, front and rear walls 21 and 22 respectively, and a top wall made up of the inwardly turned ends 23 and 24 of the front and rear Walls 21 and 22, respectively. Said inwardly turned ends 2? and 24 are co-planar and terminate short of one another to form the elongated slot 14.

The inlet end 12 of the cabinets 10 may be some distance removed from the closed end 13 thereof, which may affect the rate of discharge of the conditioned air through the slots 14. The intervening lengths of the cabinet may pass under windows 18 and 19 and along the walls 15 and 16, each of which walls, as well as windows 18 and 19, may have different heat conducting characteristics requiring different rates of discharge of the conditioned air to produce a uniform air temperature in the room. The natural conduction currents in the room and variations in pressure in the conditioned air supply are additional factors affecting the rate of discharge of the conditioned air through slots 14. To compensate for variations in the supply of conditioned air as Well as for variations in the load along a wall, it is desirable to vary the quantity of air flowing along differing sections of the wall.

The direction in which the conditioned air leaves a cabinet is also important. Thus, for example, the air may leave in the direction of the wall 15 or 16 instead of forming a curtain along the wall, so that the air is unduly affected by the temperature and condition of the wall before it is deflected from the Wall into the room. Both the variation in pressure, either along the length of slot 14 or produced undesirably at the source, with its resultant effect on the flow of the air through slot 14, and the direction of the exiting air are controlled by the means new to be described.

For controlling the flow of air, a sheet metal device herein termed a damper unit 25 (FIG. 3), is provided for each standard length of cabinet 10. Said damper unit 25 is comprised of a fixed part 25a and a movable damper element 37. Fixed part 25a is in turn comprised of parallel substantially identical rectangular sheets 26 and 27 which are held in spaced relation to one another by a series of spacers 28 made of heavier gauge material so as to be relatively stiff. The longitudinal sides of sheet 26 are bent outwardly to form flanges 29 and 30, and similarly, the longitudinal sides of sheet 27 are bent outwardly to form flanges 31 and 32 which extend in the opposite direction from flanges 29 and 30. Thus the flanges 30 and 32 define between them an opening into a flat space or passageway bounded by sheets 26 and 27, and said sheets thereby form guides for directing the flow of air from the interior of the cabinet in a direction determined by the planes of the sheets. Said sheets 26 and 27 pass through elongated slot 14, with flanges 29 and 31 overlying the slot-defining ends 23 and 24 of front wall 21 and rear wall 22, respectively, so as to be supported thereby. Said ends 23 and 24 are interlocked with respect to damper unit 25 by tabs 33 and 34 on damper 25 which are spot-welded to said sheets 27 and 26, respectively, and are formed with bent-over ends 35 and 36 disposed substantially parallel to the flanges 31 and 29, respectively. The spacing between a bent-over end 35 and its adjacent flange 31 is just suificient to admit the end 24 of the wall 22, for example, and similarly, the spacing between the bent-over end 36 and its adjacent flange 29 is just sufiicient to admit the bent-over end 23 of wall 21. Thus damper unit 25 is assembled with respect to cabinet by sliding said damper unit endwise into the elongated slots 14 of the cabinet and permitting the bentover ends 23 and 24 to be received between the aforementioned tabs and flanges on the damper.

The actual damper element 37 is a U-shaped stamping 37a which is preferably formed from a single piece of sheet metal and has parallel side Walls 38 and 39 of substantially rectangular configuration which are joined together at their lower edges as viewed in FIG. 2 by a bottom wall 40. The spacing between the side walls 38 and 39 is substantially the same as that between the sheets 26 and 27, so that said side wall 38 is substantially coplanar with sheet 26 and side wall 39 is substantially coplanar with sheet 27. Damper element 37 is disposed across the space or passageway between sheets 26 and 27 and forms with said sheets laterally disposed orifices 41 and 42. Thus a flow of air from the interior of cabinet 10 to the exterior thereof, or a reverse flow thereinto, requires that the air pass between the plates 26 and 27 and through the orifices 41 and 42. By controlling the size of the orifices 41 and 42 the quantity of air passing through the space between plates 26 and 27 and through the elongated slots 14 may similarly be controlled. Damper element 37 thus converts the velocity head of the conditioned air entering cabinet 10 to a static head, thereby equalizing the discharge of the air through slots 14 for continuous even diffusion therethrough.

It is contemplated by this invention that damper element 37 will be so mounted that it can be raised or lowered relative to the sheets 26 and 27, thereby to effect such change in the size of the orifices. Furthermore, it is contemplated that one end of damper element 37 may be raised or lowered independently of the other so that the shape of the orifice can be changed from a rectangular one to a trapezoidal, or, in fact, a triangular one so that flow may be cut off at one end of the damper element and yet may be at its maximum value at the other end of said element.

Damper element 37 is supported from the end spacers 43 and 44, each of which is formed with a right angle bend 45 and 46 respectively, at the lower end thereof. Said bent ends have openings 47 and 48 respectively, in which are loosely received round-headed machine screws 49 and 50, respectively. In the process of manufacture, said screws are made captive in their openings by angular tabs 51 and 52 secured by spot-welding or otherwise to spacers 43 and 44. Each tab, as illustrated in FIG. 4, has an opening 53 of less diameter than the maximum diameter of the head of the screw, but of sufficient size to provide access to the screw driver slot 54 of a screw, so that said screws can be turned by inserting a screw driver through the slots 14 and the space between sheets 26 and 27, between the side walls 38 and 39, and into the opening 53 in the appropriate tab.

To the underside of bottom wall of damper element 37 are secured small plates 55 and 56, each of which is provided with a threaded opening 57 in alignment with larger openings 58 formed in the bottom wall 40. Screws 49 pass loosely through said openings 58 and are threaded into the threaded openings 57 so that the damper element 37 is supported from spacers 43 and 44 by said screws 49 and 50.

It may be apparent from the description thus far given that by turning screws 49 and 50 on bent-over supporting ends and 46, damper element 37 may be advanced toward or made to retreat from the heads of said screws, and, furthermore, that since said heads are fixed relative to the spacers 43 and 44, the turning of the screws 49 and thus results in raising or lowering damper element 37 with respect to the fixed damper part 25a. This, in turn, effects a change in the size of the orifices 41 and 42 as desired. Inasmuch as it may be necessary to close one end of the orifices 41 and 42 While the other is open, a stop is provided for the damper element by forming laterally extending flanges 59 and 60 on the upper ends of the side walls 38 and 39 of the damper element. These flanges 59 and 60 are thus opposed to the flanges 30 and 32 and provide definite limit stops or bottoming for damper element 37 against the fixed part 25a of the damper unit 25. In addition, said flanges 59 and 60 also provide rigidity for the upper ends of damper element 37. If desired, the outer ends of all of the flanges 30, 32, 59 and 60 may be curved outwardly from one another to minimize noise.

Spacers 28 extend downwardly, as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3, between side walls 38 and 39 of damper element 37 with a sliding fit, so that said spacers 28 maintain damper element 37 in proper alignment with the sheets 26 and 27 The length of said spacers 28, however, is such that the spacers do not touch bottom wall 40 of U-shaped stamping 37a, even when said element has been raised to close orifices 41 and 42 completely. Said spacers 28 are appropriately secured to the sheets 26 and 27 by tabs 61 and 62 located in pairs on either side of said spacers and extending through appropriate openings in the sheets 26 and 27. The ends of said tabs are then deformed either by bending or by staking to prevent their return through the openings in the sheets, thereby locking the spacers in place. The pairs of tabs also fix spacers 28 against any tendency to pivot about one tab of said pairs of tabs.

The length of damper element 37 is made slightly less than the length of the fixed part 25a of the damper unit 25. It may be recalled that these units are intended to be placed end-to-end in long, connected cabinets 10, and that it may be desirable to close one end of an orifice while the opposite end is open. Such swinging of the damper element 37 about one or the other screw head causes a bottom corner, such as 63 of the damper element 37, to have a lateral component of movement. If the elements 37 were of the same length as the fixed portions of the unit so that they were contiguous, it would be impossible for corner 63 to move laterally because of interference with the adjacent damper element. By making the damper elements 37 shorter than the fixed portions of the damper unit, ample space is provided between them for such lateral components of movement of the lower corners of the elements 37.

All corners of the flanges in the damper unit or the damper element 37 over which air flows, are made smoothly rounded to avoid the creation of cavitation and the noise that results therefrom. It is also desirable, as

pointed out hereinabove, that air flowing outwardly through the damper unit 25 move in a vertical direction as it leaves the unit. Such air, however, enters the damper unit with a predominantly horizontal component of movement. This horizontal movement is converted to a vertical movement by the spacers 28 which are located at appropriate intervals along the unit and act as deflectors for the laterally moving stream of air.

The elongated slots 14 are not sutficiently wide to require a grill or other covering, their continuous length compensating for lack of breadth. Any dust or lint, or the like, which may fall into said slots will fall into the bottom of damper element 37 and will not clog the orifices 41, 42.

The damper units 25 may be secured in place in a cabinet by fasteners passing through openings 64 and 65 in the flanges 29 and 31 located anywhere along the flanges, but preferably at the ends thereof.

Thus I have provided a damper unit for an elongated air-conducting cabinet which achieves the objectives set forth above and provides a means for creating a curtain of vertically rising conditioned air extending upward from approximately the level of a base board and varying in volume longitudinally as desired to take care of special circumstances arising along a wall. The quantity of air flowing at any given point may be varied by the simple expedient of reaching into a slot with a screw driver to turn the nearest machine screw and vary the size of orifices 41 and 42. Once a setting is made, the screw remains in the adjusted position until a further adjustment is required.

It is understood that the foregoing description is merely illustrative of a preferred embodiment of this invention and that the scope of the invention is not to be limited thereto but is to be determined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, an elongated air-conducting cabinet having inlet and outlet openings, one of said open ings being an elongated slot extending between the ends of said cabinet, said openings providing a passage for air through the cabinet, and means for controlling the quantity of air passing through said slot, said means comprising a damper unit extending into the cabinet through said slot and having a fixed part defining an elongated passageway through said slot, and a damper element for variably closing said passageway, said fixed part comprising spaced rectangular sheets, spacers disposed at intervals between said sheets and secured thereto, said sheets having longitudinal flanges extending outwardly from said passageway, one flange of each sheet overlying the parallel edge of the cabinet and supporting the damper unit therefrom, said damper unit comprising a U-shaped member disposed within the cabinet and extending across said passageway, the ends of the U being flanged outwardly and forming orifices with the other longitudinal flanges on the sheets, said spacers extending into the U-shaped member with a sliding fit, a horizontally extending apertured part on each of two of said spacers, threaded openings at the bottom of the U-shaped member in alignment with the apertures in said horizontally extending parts, screws extending loosely through said apertured parts and engaging the threads in said threaded openings, means on said two of said spacers holding said screws against relative axial movement with said two of said spacers, said screws being accessible from the exterior of the cabinet through said passageway whereby turning said screws changes the spacing between the damper element and the fixed part to change the size and shape of said orifices.

2. The combination described in claim 1, said spacers comprising flat strips disposed with the planes of their broad surfaces substantially at right angles to the plane of the elongated slot in the cabinet.

3. In combination, an elongated air-conducting cabinet having inlet and outlet openings, one of said openings being elongated and extending lengthwise of the cabinet, said openings providing a passage for air through the cabinet, and means for controlling the quantity of air passing through said elongated opening, said means comprising a damper unit extending into the cabinet through said elongated opening and having a fixed part defining a passageway through said elongated opening, a damper element disposed outside said passageway and extending across said passageway, means supporting the damper element in proximity to the inner end of said passageway, and means for adjusting the supporting means to change the location of the damper element relative to the said inner end of the passageway from a location at which said damper element closes said passageway to a location at which the said damper element interposes a minimum restriction in the flow of air through said passageway, said fixed part comprising spaced sheets, and spacers extending between said sheets and secured thereto, said supporting means for the damper element comprising a lateral extension on a spacer, and means on the damper element engaging the lateral extension.

4. In combination, an elongated air-conducting cabinet having inlet and outlet openings, one of said openings being elongated and extending lengthwise of the cabinet, said openings providing a passage for air through the cabinet, and means for controlling the quantity of air passing through said elongated opening, said means comprising a damper unit extending into the cabinet through said elongated opening and having a fixed part defining a passageway through said elongated opening, a damper element disposed outside said passageway and extending across said passageway, means supporting the damper element in proximity to the inner end of said passageway, and means for adjusting the supporting means to change the location of the damper element relative to the said inner end of the passageway from a location at which said damper element closes said passage way to a location at which the said damper element interposes a minimum restriction in the flow of air through the passageway, said fixed part comprising spaced sheets having flanges along corresponding longitudinal edges extending away from said passageway, one pair of said flanges constituting means for supporting the damper unit from the cabinet, and another pair of said flanges defining with the damper element opposed orifices leading into said passageway.

5. In combination, an elongated air-conducting cabinet having inlet and outlet openings, one of said openings being elongated and extending lengthwise of the cabinet, said opening providing a passage for air through the cabinet, and means for controlling the quantity of air passing through said elongated opening, said means comprising a damper unit extending into the cabinet through said elongated opening, and having a fixed part defining a passageway through said elongated opening, a damper element disposed outside said passageway and extending across said passageway, means supporting the damper element in proximity to the inner end of the passageway, and means for adjusting the supporting means to change the location of the damper element relative to the said inner end of said passageway from a location at which said damper element closes said passageway to a location at which the said damper element interposes a minimum restriction in the flow of air through the passageway, said fixed part comprising spaced sheets and spacers extending between said sheets, and said damper element comprising a U-shaped member disposed over the passageway, said spacers extending into the U-shaped member with a sliding fit to give lateral support to said damper element.

6. In combination, an elongated air-conducting cabinet having inlet and outlet openings, one of said openings being elongated and extending lengthwise of the cabinet, said openings providing a passage for air through the cabinet, and means for controlling the quantity of air passing through said elongated opening, said means comprising fixed spaced sheets extending downwardly from the longitudinal edges of the openings into the cabinet and terminating therein in flanges extending away from one another to define a passageway connected to said elongated opening, a damper element comprising a plate spaced below said flanges and extending across the lower end of said passageway and said flanges to define with said flanges orifices in communication with said passageway, means on said fixed spaced sheets supporting the damper element in the cabinet, and spaced differentially operable means for moving the damper element relative to said flanges to change the size and shape of said orifices and the flow of airtherethrough.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,088,392 5/1963 Egan 9840 3,106,146 10/1963 LaVigne 98-40 ROBERT A. OLEARY, Primary Examiner.

0 JOHN F. OCONNOR, Examiner.

WILLIAM F. ODEA, Assistant Examiner. 

4. IN COMBINATION, AN ELONGATED AIR-CONDUCTING CABINET HAVING INLET AND OUTLET OPENINGS, ONE OF SAID OPENINGS BEING ELONGATED AND EXTENDING LENGTHWISE OF THE CABINET, SAID OPENINGS PROVIDING A PASSAGE FOR AIR THROUGH THE CABINET, AND MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE QUANTITY OF AIR PASSING THROUGH SAID ELONGATED OPENING, SAID MEANS COMPRISING A DAMPER UNIT EXTENDING INTO THE CABINET THROUGH SAID ELONGATED OPENING AND HAVING A FIXED APART DEFINING A PASSAGEWAY THROUGH SAID ELONGATED OPENING, A DAMPER ELEMENT DISPOSED OUTSIDE SAID PASSAGEWAY AND EXTENDING ACROSS SAID PASSAGEWAY, MEANS SUPPORTING THE DAMPER ELEMENT IN PROXIMITY TO THE INNER END OF SAID PASSAGEWAY, AND MEANS FOR ADJUSTING THE SUPPORTING MEANS TO CHANGE THE LOCATION OF THE DAMPER ELEMENT RELATIVE TO THE SAID INNER END OF THE PASSAGEWAY FROM A LOCATION AT WHICH SAID DAMPER ELEMENT CLOSES SAID PASSAGEWAY TO A LOCATION AT WHICH THE SAID DAMPER ELEMENT INTERPOSES A MINIMUM RESTRICTION IN THE FLOW OF AIR THROUGH THE PASSAGEWAY, SAID FIXED PART COMPRISING SPACED SHEETS HAVING FLANGES ALONG CORRESPONDING LONGITUDINAL EDGES EXTENDING AWAY FROM SAID PASSAGEWAY, ONE PAIR OF SAID FLANGES CONSTITUTING MEANS FOR SUPPORTING THE DAMPER UNIT FROM THE CABINET, AND ANOTHER PAIR OF SAID FLANGES DEFINING WITH THE DAMPER ELEMENT OPPOSED ORIFICES LEADING INTO SAID PASSAGEWAY. 